The Gilbert Medal & U21 Awards

An annual set of awards made to celebrate internationalisation within and beyond the U21 network.

The Gilbert Medal, named in honour of the founder of Universitas 21 and major lifelong proponent of the benefits of internationalisation, both honours the vision of the late Professor Alan Gilbert who died in July 2010 and celebrates some of the core objectives of the Universitas 21 network, namely to increase understanding, trust and partnership between international universities; enhance teaching, learning and research across physical boundaries; and strengthen collaboration between like-minded universities across the world.

The Gilbert Medal will be awarded annually to a person of international standing and all members of faculty, staff and the student body within the U21 network will be able to put inspirational figures forward for nomination. Presidents and Vice Chancellors of U21 institutions will decide on the winner, who will be invited to receive his or her award at a ceremony at the Annual Presidential Meeting, the inaugural presentation having taken place at Lund University, Sweden in May 2012. Speaking at the announcement of the award, Professor Glyn Davis, then Chair of the U21 network, commented “As the premier international network for higher education we are very excited about the opportunity to recognise others working in this field. Promoting internationalisation on a global scale is one of the most important roles we have, both as a network and as individual universities, and we are looking forward to identifying others around the world who share our vision.”

Alongside the Gilbert Medal, U21 members will have the opportunity to nominate colleagues within the network for one of two U21 Awards for Internationalisation, recognising individual efforts towards particularly innovative or extraordinary projects which further internationalisation, or sustained and prolonged contribution building relations between U21 members to support internationalisation.